Sunday, 19 September 2010

the Viewer Screwer

I have been called uneducated and opinionated this week by a Twit, not a mile from the truth, while the Linden Destination Guide calls me a Celebrated Artist. Do I have to wear candles on my head, and can 1st April be soror Nishi Day, or is it booked already by the Public Relations department?

In a move that defies all description Linden Labs moved this week to nobble all Third Party Viewer competition...

Cockup Linden : GrrrrrBlunder Linden : Whats up mate?Cockup Linden : They’ve all loaded Phoenix and Imprudence.Blunder Linden : Guess we shouldn’t have given them the code.Cockup Linden : Doh!!BS Linden : Tell em the code is illegal and its dishonest of em to use it.Cockup Linden : Can we do that?Blunder Linden : We can do anything.BS Linden : Then we can ban all the other viewers.Cockup Linden : Then they’ll have to use Viewer 2, the ungrateful buggers.Blunder Linden : Brilliant !!Cockup Linden : BS, you should be promoted for that.BS Linden : Aww...thanks guys, I do my best.

Now, even if they were forced into it by others for legal reasons, no-one is gonna believe that it isn’t a mean-spirited move to mess up the competition.

Full details are available on Tateru Nino’s (always informative) blog here.

As far as digging a hole goes, this one is not only bad, it is totally disasterous. Calling, or implying dishonesty on the part of Third Party Viewer developers is totally uncalled for, and the backlash will be intense.

To deal this sort of a blow to your own credibility when Linden Love is at an all time low is staggering.

If you have a product that you want to be widely accepted, surely the best thing is to develop it to such a degree that the competition can’t touch it. Nobbling your competitors is only acceptable if no-one finds out about it, which in these days of blogging is very unlikely.

Professing innocence, which the Lab could yet do, will not wash as the credibility gap is currently huge and about to widen.